If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. That’s, it, really.
So… At this point I don’t really know what to do. Nothing is going right. Nobody is taking real responsiblity for things that have to happen immediately. People are talking, but talk is cheap. There is no action.
Today I walk in around like 20 mins after we start. Not much really is happening, AG RM KC are gone and its just AP and me, as captains, and on design is just RS.
What is happening: some carpentry. RS is machining a prototype of a shooter that he designed. I go over and yell at him to go design and let someone else take over machining (I think said someone else messed up but whatever, it doesn’t matter. RS needs to be designing stuff).
He complains about like there being “nothing to design”. Impossible. Anyway, he goes back “to designing” and the next time I check on him he is indeed not designing and playing brawl instead.
AP and I try to run a two-roller intake prototype but we are on a drill shortage as carpentry team is using them all. So we wait.
Meanwhile TB and OG, alumni, arrive. Also AG KC a bit later. Also mentor P later. Lots of strategy discussion. Perhaps not entirely too interesting, but I should summarize the points:
- strategy, roughly to shoot while moving always and hoard balls
- storage does not need to be really big
- turret approved. 180 degrees, facing side for shoot-while-move.
- debate on whether you need hood or turret. Conclusion is probably both
- similar to one of my ideas ig. although it seems like when I say stuff it’s not taken as seriously
- should consider L2/3 climb
- orientation etc not finalized yet…
I feel the powercreep coming although really with this type of strategy you need it…
More or less at this point I feel that we have settled with a design and a strategy. There are stuff that has to be worked out, but only with prototyping. I’m perhaps not the biggest fan of this design (a bit too much complexity for my taste) but I see why everything is… necessary.
Anyway I approve turret design and AG starts working (later).
Alumni leave, then we have dinner. etc. We come back and soon the long-awaited shooter prototype is done.
Let me describe this prototype for you really quick. Two wooden plates with two holes in each (well like 6 holes but only 2 of them are right b/c they redid it like 2 times.) Bearings in the holes, two axles through each, and compliant wheels on both axles.
Except, the bearings fall out as soon as you rotate the axle. The compliant wheels give you like 0.5 cm compression. And even better: there’s no hood. It’s not a hooded shooter at all. It’s just a dual flywheel shooter (and asymetric too).
Oh and even better RS leaves before we can even tell him about any of this.
So we spent like 30 hours waiting for this………. (please, next time, think before you do anything stupid)
Sooner or later we leave. And WRT prototyping, nothing really was done today.
Perhaps I should have done it myself. If I did it myself it would already be done (and I’m programming team. why am I doing this???)
I can’t do everything, after all. I still need to program the swerve and test it well.
If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. That’s, it, really.
I don’t really know what will happen. I trust AG working on shooter and RM working on intake, to some extent. Carpentry team is busy at work. But looking at the critical path, right now it is on prototyping. Design can’t be verified without some prototypes, and this is no simple robot that we are building.
Maybe I can make a rough shooter prototype. But sooner or later the prototypes will be too complex for me to solo, as someone who cannot do mechie stuff.
So something needs to happen, and I don’t see it happening.
Well, let’s write a list of things I want to happen, with some deadlines (also for mentor D):
Note that thursdays are counted in. Otherwise shift the schedule roughly by one day per thursday.
- Rough hooded shooter prototype. 1/14.
- Rough two roller prototype. 1/14.
- Polished intake prototype. 1/15.
- Rough hopper & indexer prototype. 1/16.
- Polished shooter prototype. 1/20.
-
Rough interacting indexer & shooter prototype. 1/22.
- Initial intake cad. 1/14.
- Initial shooter cad. 1/16.
- Rough cad of stuff put together. 1/21.
-
Mostly final cad. 1/26.
- Start machining. 1/23.
- Robot done. 2/4.
- Swerve and localization done. 1/23.
- Robot code done (ex. targetting). 1/27.
- Shooter testing started. 1/29.
- Programming done. 2/11.
That leaves like 2 weeks for driver practice (& safety margin). not bad.
I’ll bet some good money that this isn’t happening, by the way.
Well, there’s really nothing I can do. But if nothing changes, we’ll be in some big trouble soon.
